Cooper to build The Exchange, a Class A office campus, in prime Waterloo Region location

May 27th, 2011

On a 15-acre Cooper-owned site at 630 Weber Street, a main arterial road in Waterloo, Ontario, Cooper Construction will develop The Exchange, a state-of-the-art business office campus—comprising three 2-storey buildings of 68,000 s.f., divisible from 8000 s.f., with 34,000 sf floor plates, centre courtyard amenity space, and 4.5 parking spots per 1000 s.f.

City of Waterloo’s flexible zoning allows conversion of properties from industrial use to office, enabling Cooper Construction to demolish the existing 150,000 sf manufacturing building.

“Over the past five years, with continuing growth in the Waterloo Region— particularly in the high-tech and financial sectors—office space vacancy rates in Waterloo have been among the lowest in Canada”, said Bill Cooper Jr., Vice President, Real Estate. “There is a shortage of Class A office space, and we see this project as a strong opportunity to respond to market demand.”

Cooper stated that one important stimulus for the Region’s growth is “… the local availability of qualified graduates from Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier universities, and Conestoga College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning.”

Ranked by the UK Financial Times as Canada’s most cost-effective business location, Waterloo Region has earned global recognition as an advanced technology cluster—including 150 Research Centres, acclaimed post- secondary education institutions, Canada’s highest concentration of manufacturing activity, and one of Canada’s largest insurance industry clusters. Leading economic sectors in the Region include high tech, advanced manufacturing, automotive, and business services.

Construction start is scheduled for July 2011, with a completion target of first quarter 2012

“The Exchange will be our third major project underway in Waterloo Region”, Cooper said, “together with the Balsillie Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) and the University of Waterloo’s Environmental Building 3.”